I have no doubt that the data says something different from "if it's more efficient to work for minimum wage, people will just work a job instead of grind". And now, putting on my game player's hat, as someone who's played diablo 2 for the longest time, been with Alteil since set 5, etc...here's why:

It's the idea of obtaining in-game items through in-game means. It's the idea of not breaking the "magic circle"--that barrier that exists between the real world (where you earn money for everything), and the game (which has another, in-game way to earn those same cards). In essence, it's the idea that who wins matches shouldn't be determined by who has a better real world job (and as a budding data scientist, I very well may be out-earning most if not all of the people on this board in a few years). This certainly gives me enough leeway to just load up a bunch of gran, get all the cards, and go cruising (I'm on AA's account doing that sort of doing that right now, but I can do similar stuff on my own account if I felt like it). But that would defeat the purpose of taking the actual journey to obtain those cards through in-game means, and make my wins feel illegitimate.

Furthermore, still wearing my player's hat, this time my Alteil player's hat, there just isn't enough reason to spend $5-$10. $10 might get you one playset of EX. However, what about the regular sets? $5 would get me 500 (600?) gran. I buy 2 gold packs with that. What are the chances that I get a playset of Ben Maclachlan? Tiny. In essence, right now, we have "wait for hyper lotto for your 1 and 2*s and occasional 1-of useful 3-5*", "save up gran for your sphere's EX" (and if you're playing two spheres? One of my only instances of spending was for Belltia because I got EX6 Falkow already because EXwiz was so good at the time). I heard that when you released the prebuilts for 500 gran went down, and you're loathe to do it again.

Now, putting on my data scientist hat, I have a hypothesis as to why: I think your revenues may actually work like a movie theater's. When a new movie comes out, everyone flocks to see it. Then fewer and fewer people, and after a few weeks, everyone who wants to see it has seen it (still gotta see The Hobbit >.>). Same deal with spending. If someone intends to spend a good bit of cash to get the cards they need from a set, they're going to buy that set on release, or their first immediate opportunity following the set's release, until either they say "enough", or they get the cards they need. If you compare prebuilt sales to set releases, well, of course they'll decrease the overall spending, because they allow access to great cards for the price (cudgel SS? Chiruru SS? EX Riza? EX Zuga? Rasam and EXWiz and Vosrot? Dub Rido?).

That said, I think the prebuilts revealed something--that it isn't the omfg amazing rares that should encourage the low spenders to spend, but that people just want a half-decent file to play. They don't need a file chock full of 5*s just to put up a good fight in Folrart. They can scrounge up point cards for their Bringers/Allinds, and hope to get lucky on the level ups (speaking of those, why not offer an option to take 45 point cards instead of a set 5* at level 100+?).

At the moment, I think that there really is no place for low spending. It's either shell out a crapton for entire sets/ex boxes, or play free, because anything in between is a complete crapshoot. So long as it stays a crapshoot, there's no real reason to spend a little here, a little there.

So yeah, maybe you should set a respectable level requirement for auction house (50 seems decent--it's after the 30 at which you get your last 3*) just so people wouldn't troll Crest with alts, but that's just a risk you'll have to accept--that at some point, someone's going to be so dedicated to the idea of the magic circle that they'll go in Crest and troll the little newbies. IMO the answer to that is better grinder events. Like the stuff that got us Afeemina/Resource, the 60 PCs, etc...

Basically, I think if you set up the business model correctly, there will always be a place for those that just have to have every last card in existence, or make those chock-full-of-5*s files, and they'll still pay handsomely. But there needs to be a lot more "if you just pay $5-$10, you can have a very respectable file, and if you combine it with good PC usage and some dedication to the game (grinding), you may very well end up a top player". Because that's what this game is missing IMO.

I fully agree with logress on auction house idea. It needs to be somehow controlled.

But i hope also there is a way to prevent abuse between alts or with alts. I wish to keep using my alt even if i am stopped from trading with it.

Here are my opinions posted in a different thread. Found to copy paste for you logress:Nothing wrong with having alts.

I'd say best solution is for high auction purchases to be checked!If i sell to my alt a bad 1 star for 400 gran then clearly it's wrong and something needs to be done about it.BUT if i sell to my alt let's say a super strong card that boosts my alt's deck and the price is high then that is actually fair.

Your issue might be how much can i make my alt spend? Well it should be enough to allow my alt to buy the strong card. If highest bid is 500 gran for the card and my alt pays around 520 gran then it's fair and fine since i might want to build a deck on it and win games.

Also another problem isn't just alts. Let's say siblings play from same IP address / computers / etc. They will probably be identified as one single person although they are 2. I think siblings should still be able to trade amongst eachother indirectly through the auction house.

Also auction house is exploitable all around even without alts.

Few fixes would be:- starting prices have certain upper and lower limits. Recycle value +1 gran should be the lower limit. 6 gran for 1 star, 11 gran for 2 stars, 31 gran for 3 stars, 151 gran for 4 stars, 301 gran for 5 stars.There should be an upper limit for lower rarity cards. 25 gran for 1 star, 50 gran for 2 star, 150 gran for 3 star.EX cards, special promotional cards a la miku, 4 stars and 5 stars really shouldn't have an upper limit. Their obtainability is so crucial to the game that the only solution is to closely monitor that part of the auction house all the time and every single such transaction.

Of course there should always be some sort of monitoring over the auction house because even without alts it's still abusable!Basically anything above a certain gran value HAS TO BE CHECKED! 500 gran or more always check!

Any issues you see with this or other issues feel free to ask. I will try my best to give an useful suggestion to help getting a working auction house up as soon as possible.

I am amongst the people that is celebrating to see Zynga failing badly this year. Something tells me you barely know anything about that company. They steal games and make limited changes to art then post it as their own game. I can't wait to see them go under for good.

It's not only because their games are too elfing demanding in cost and also time, but also because their games fking suck hard and should've been banned from the start in an ideal world.Such rubbish games need to be purged from this world forever.

It's not only because their games are too elfing demanding in cost and also time, but also because their games fking suck hard and should've been banned from the start in an ideal world.Such rubbish games need to be purged from this world forever.

DemonGod, you committed a serious breach of personal boundaries. Among other things, you were banned from these forums as a result. Instead of backing off and understanding what you did with personal boundaries you try to circumvent banning and make new accounts on these forums.

You are not welcome here. You are not welcome in our office. You are not welcome to try and bend this statement with some sort of warped literal loophole.

Do not harass my employees.

I am trying to make this clear as and polite as possible. You are not welcome here.